Feeding the Hungry (and Homeless)

How we’re working with the City of Elgin and other partners to feed the former residents of Tent City

For most of us, a home is a safe space. Be it an apartment, a shared space with roommates, or our dream house, those four walls give us much-needed sanctuary after a long day. We might move houses or states, but the security of home goes where we do, offering refuge and respite from the rest of life’s uncertainties.

For the folks living in Elgin’s largest Tent City on the banks of the Fox River, what little sense of home they had was ripped away after a recent fire.

In December 2024 and again in January 2025, three separate fires ignited at Tent City, causing damage and resulting in the death of a dog. The City of Elgin stepped in, seeing the need to clean up the area, which contained hazardous materials and other safety risks.

But where to house those 50 displaced residents? 

Enter: Lexington Inn & Suites in Elgin.

However, while the Lexington Inn is great for lodging, it encourages guests to enjoy the meals at local restaurants because it simply isn’t equipped to provide consistent food to long-term residents. This has meant Tent City folks have regularly gone without food—sometimes for days at a time.

Which is why the City called Food for Greater Elgin.

“As the largest pantry in Kane County, it made a lot of sense for the City to partner with us,” said Emily Tyler, Director of Development at FFGE.

With help from the Northern Illinois Food Bank, Food for Greater Elgin planned to regularly deliver Factor meals—premade, nutritionally sound meals—to the former residents of Tent City at The Lexington Inn.

“The problem is, Factor meals require a refrigerator,” said Tyler, “and the Inn couldn’t accommodate that many fresh meals.”

That’s when FFGE board member, Mike Warren, WRMN owner, Dean Dalaly, and the Elgin Breakfast Rotary Club, offered to fund the purchase of a commercial cooler. 

“We’re essentially running a satellite pantry at the Inn…”

For the next several months, the cooler will stay at the Lexington Inn. It will then relocate to the Food for Greater Elgin warehouse facility, where it will be put to even more good use. “We’re essentially running a satellite pantry at the Inn,” said Tyler. “It requires additional volunteers, weekly deliveries, and it’s an unexpected expense. That’s why we had to ask for emergency funding—we didn’t have the purchase of these food boxes in our budget.”

For now, the former residents of Tent City have food and shelter. But there’s so much more to be done.

“We do food,” said Tyler. “That’s our expertise, so that’s what we’re helping with. But there’s so much more to be done—career services, mental health counseling, vaccinations and other health screenings, and more.”

Food for Greater Elgin invites any and all Elgin organizations to show up in whatever way they can.

“This is such a huge task—to end homelessness in Elgin. But we have so many resources and amazing organizations in town. We just have to join forces and step up!”

Special thanks to Greg Shiller for volunteering to take the lead on food distribution at The Lexington Inn, and to Jena Hencin, Homeless Response Coordinator at the City of Elgin.

You can donate to our Lexington Inn fund here.

Have another service to offer? Get in touch with the City of Elgin. 

Email any questions to ed@ffge.org.